Lucerius
Lucerius (died 740) was the third Abbot of Farfa, succeeding Aunepert in 724 at the latest. He was originally from Provence and had been raised at Farfa by Thomas of Maurienne, the first abbot. Lucerius' abbacy was a period of growth and expansion on the part of the abbey. In his first year, he received a grant of a church with its (unspecified) lands from Duke Thrasimund II of Spoleto.[1] This church, dedicated to Saint Getulius, lay within the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Rieti, and according to the tenth-century Exceptio Relationum Thrasimund had to compensate the bishop for his loss.[2]
In 739 Lucerius received a privilege from King Liutprand confirming its possessions and granting it the freedom to elect its own abbots.[1] In 729 Thrasimund had sworn loyalty to Liutprand, but in this year (739) he had renounced it. Liutprand marched an army into central Italy, forcing Thrasimund to flee to Rome and installing Hilderic as duke in Spoleto. The next year (740), with the aid of Pope Zachary, Thrasimund retook Spoleto and granted Farfa the right to graze its animals on the pasture of the settlement of Germaniciana and also granted it the tithes of that place.[3]
Notes
[edit]- ^ a b Marios Costambeys, Power and Patronage in the Early Medieval Italy: Local Society, Italian Politics, and the Abbey of Farfa, c.700–900 (Cambridge: 2007), 150.
- ^ Costambeys, 82n and 87.
- ^ Costambeys, 65, 75, 79. The granted consisted of terra ... in fundo Germaniciano prope pastinum sancti Angeli ... ubi pastinare ipsi monachi debeant or “land on the estate of Germaniciana belonging to the pasture of Saint Angelus where the monks [of Farfa] should pasture [their flocks]” (Costambeys, 203 and n. 144). The pasture referred to was probably the site where the sheep of the monks of the monastery dedicated to Saint Angelus outside Rieti pastured. For an analysis of Germaniciana cf. Costambeys, 203–5.